1833.] 



of (he Southern Mahratta Country, 



187 



come suddenly upon the river, gliding gently among confused masses 

 of rock. A few steps more, over huge blocks of granite, bring you to 

 the brink of a fearful chasm, rocky, bare, and black ; down into which 

 you look to the depth of a thousand feet ! Over its sides rush the dif- 

 ferent brandies of the river, the largest stretching in one huge curling 

 pillar of white foam, without interruption to the bottom. The waters 

 are, at the bottom, by the force of their fall, projected far out in 

 straight lines; and at some distance below the falls, form a thin cloud 

 of white vapour, which rises high above the surrounding forest. The 

 sides of the chasm are formed by slanting strata of rock, the regularity 

 of which forms a striking contrast to the disorder of the tumultuous 

 waters, the broken detached masses of stone, and the soft tint of the 

 crowning woods. 



The effect of all these objects rushing at once upon the sight, is 

 awfully sublime. The spectator is generally forced to retire after the 

 first view of them, in order gradually to familiarize himself with their 

 features ; for the feeling which he experiences upon their sudden con- 

 templation, amounts almost to pain. After their first impression has 

 somewhat subsided, and he has become accustomed to their view, he 

 can then leisurely analyze their parts, and become acquainted with 

 their details. 



The chasm is somewhat of an elliptical form. At its narrowest and 

 deepest part is the principal fall ; and over its sides smaller branches 

 of the river and little rills are precipitated, and are almost all dissipat- 

 ed in spray before they reach the bottom. The principal branch of 

 the river is much contracted in breadth, before it reaches the brink of 

 the precipice, where it probably does not exceed fifty or sixty feet, but 

 it contains a very large body of water. 



The falls can only be seen from above, for the precipices, on both 

 sides of the river, afford no path to admit of a descent. Some gentle- 

 men have attempted to reach the bottom by having themselves lower- 

 ed by ropes ; but no one, to my knowledge, has hitherto succeeded, 

 A view of the fall from below would, I am convinced, exceed in gran- 

 deur every thing of the kind in the world. The spectator can very 

 easily, and with great safety, look down into the chasm to its very bot- 

 tom. Some large plates of gneiss project, in an inclined position, from 

 its edge; so that by laying himself flat upon one of these, he can 

 stretch his head, considerably beyond the brink of the precipice. 



No accurate measurement has yet been made of the height of these 

 falls. Some who have seen them declare, that their height reaches at 

 least 1,100 feet: others that it does not reach 1,000. I prepared a 

 rope 900 feet long, attached a stone to one end of it, and let it slip 

 over the edge of a rock, which projects several feet beyond the side of 

 the precipice. When 500 feet of rope had been let out, the stone was 

 forcibly drawn towards the principal cascade, which soon involved it 



